UFW plans to march in support of president's immigration reform

60 to 80 percent of county's fieldworkers are undocumented

A day after President Barack Obama announced plans to reform immigration laws, United Farm Workers organizers said they will do some pushing of their own.

Organizers announced they will hold rallies March 24 to support immigration reform.

"We'll start with an event in March," said Casimiro Alvarez, regional director with the UFW. "We've had a tradition to hold marches May 1 (near the birthday of UFW founder Cesar Chavez), but we want to take one step at a time."

The organization will hold demonstrations in Monterey County, the Central Valley, Arizona and other areas where there are large concentrations of farmworkers.

Agriculture is the largest source of revenue in Monterey County, and an estimated 60 to 80 percent of field workers are undocumented immigrants.

Organizers are hopeful there is a clearer path to immigration reform than in the past, given that a bipartisan group of senators has put forth a blueprint for overhauling the system. That senators from both sides of the aisle are coming together for a historically divisive issue is encouraging, they say.

But they know there is a steep fight ahead. From 2005 to 2007, attempts to give undocumented workers a path to citizenship failed. Already, groups that oppose giving undocumented immigrants legal papers are asking supporters to call their representatives and Obama to speak against "amnesty."

Not even massive immigration rallies in 2006 budged Congress to pass legislation in 2007.

Still, organizers are hopeful.

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"This is completely different than 2007," Alvarez said. "Republicans know they're going to need us in the future, for the 2016 election."

Republicans have shown a greater willingness to consider immigration reform, a change attributed to their poor showing with Latinos during the presidential election.

But labor leaders realize they need to mobilize the base if they want to see immigration reform come through. Already, national organizations are urging their members to sign pledges of support. At a local level, labor groups say they're likely to support the UFW march.

"The biggest thing is to stick to one framework and be clear about what we want," said Cesar Lara, executive director of the Citizenship Project and the Monterey Bay Labor Council. "It's going to get tough when everybody has different priorities — labor, faith, civil rights group — we're going to have to be able to say we're on the same page. The key is to bring different constituencies on board.